measures indicated in our manifesto, he said substantially higher allocations have been made for all departments for implementation of various development and welfare oriented schemes.

Noting that government is striving to provide health security for all, Amat said allocation for health and family welfare department was substantially enhanced to Rs 3,897.74 crore under both plan and non-plan sectors, which is about 65 per cent more than last year.

There would be a mechanism for universal free distribution of medicine to people with help of Odisha State Medical Services Corporation which will handle procurement of drugs in an efficient and cost effective manner, Amat said.

While Rs 5 crore is provided towards paid up capital of the corporation, Rs 202.56 crore is allocated for purchase of drugs, he said adding Rs 1,093.49 crore is proposed to be provided for various components of national health mission (NHM) out of which the state share comes to Rs 273.37 crore.

Focussing on improving quality of education, the budget raised allocation in school and mass education department from Rs 7142.83 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 9327.12 crore in 2014-15.

“This is the largest allocation among all departments which constitutes about 12 per cent of the total budget allocation,” the Finance minister said.

Similarly, Rs 2199.41 crore was provided for higher education department in order to provide an educated and productive work force, he said.

Describing Rural development and empowerment of panchayati raj institutions as twin objectives in Panchayati Raj Department, Amat said the budget proposes to provide Rs 6824.22 crore both under plan and non-plan areas for the department as against previous year’s Rs 3218.98 crore, which is more than 100 per cent increase in allocation.

“Home is a dream for everyone and we stand committed to our promise made in the election manifesto to ensure that every household in the state have a pucca house,” he said.

All kuccha houses in the state would be provided assistance for conversion to pucca houses in a phased manner, he said adding the government proposes to construct about 2,35,000 pucca houses during 2014-15 under various schemes.

For all-round development of Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, OBCs and minorities, the allocation of the department has been enhanced to Rs 2,454.30 crore from Rs 1,954.03 crore with an increase of over 20 per cent, he said.

Stating that the government was concerned with holistic development of women and children, mainly women empowerment, Amat said Rs 4,664.66 crore has been provided for Women and Child Development Department which is about 39 per cent higher than last year’s provision.

On infrastructure development, he said Rs 3,736.42 crore is provided as against a total provision of Rs 2,531.68 crore made in 2013-14. Improvement of 948 km of roads and construction of 15 number of bridges had been targeted during 2014-15, he said.

For Housing and Urban development department, Rs 3,031.65 crore has been provided as against Rs 2,385.46 crore allocated last year, he said.

A total provision of Rs 4677.44 crore has been made for Rural development department as against Rs 2032.57 crore provided in 2013-14, Amat continued…